Amelia Bingham

Amelia Swilley Bingham (March 20, 1869 – September 1, 1927) was an American actress born in Hicksville, Ohio, whose Broadway career spanned three decades, from 1896 to 1926.

Bingham's earliest stage work took place on the Pacific Coast before she made her New York City debut in 1893 at the People's Theatre, located at 199 Bowery in Manhattan, where she took a leading role in the melodrama The Struggle For Life. Her New York appearances in the 1890s included The Power of Gold, The Shaughran, Colleen Bawn, The Village Postmaster, and Captain Impudence. By 1897 she was under the management of Charles Frohman, serving as leading lady in The White Heather. Her work with Frohman also encompassed The Pink Domino, The Proper Caper, On and Off, At the White Horse Tavern, The Cuckoo, and His Excellency The Governor. Her prominence during this period was reflected in a newspaper competition for the title of American State Queen, in which she received more than 9,000 of the 30,000 votes cast, while established stars including Lillian Russell, Maud Allan, Ada Rehan, and Fannie Davenport each received only around one hundred votes.

A visit to London in 1900 introduced Bingham to actresses who operated as their own producers, and she subsequently founded the Amelia Bingham Company. Under her oversight, Clyde Fitch's The Climbers, starring Bijou Fernandez, opened at the Bijou Theatre on January 15, 1901, and enjoyed an extended run. She also produced Lady Margaret, The Modern Magdalen, and The Frisky Mrs. Johnson. In 1904 Bingham both performed in and produced Olympe, a Broadway costume drama she later toured with Gilbert Miller. During the summer of 1904, Olympe played for one week at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado, with Bingham supplying the original New York production costumes, one gown of which had cost her $1,000. She acted the lead in Big Moments from Great Plays in 1909 and appeared alongside William H. Crane and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in The New Henrietta prior to World War I. Her Broadway credits also included the plays Mamma's Affair and Ostriches.

Illness began to affect Bingham's ability to work around 1914. She returned to the stage in 1918 in The Man Who Stayed Home. In 1925 she participated in a revival of Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells. Her final stage appearance came at the Century Theatre in the 1926 production of The Pearl of Great Price, in which she portrayed Shame. Bingham stated publicly that financial circumstances had compelled her to accept the role, as she had spent years playing what she considered decent women on the stage.

Bingham died on September 1, 1927, in New York City. Her funeral was held at the Little Church Around the Corner, and she was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.